Social media is a funny beast.

I recently started a YouTube channel. By recently, I mean last year. And my growth has been appallingly slow.

However, there are a few reasons for this. I had no idea how to work the editing software. And filming videos is not as easy as point a camera and shoot. I was learning something new with every video I filmed and painstakingly edited. Now I am just about at the point where I can say “hey look at me! I can film and edit some cool stuff!”

But I am still only hovering at…

a poem

I long to see stars again,

Shining bright

Clouds blot them out,

In blackest night.

Through the rising wind

I catch a flash of white

A circling seagull’s wing;

The crying echoes in my brain,

As they rise

On the winds of change.

I live in a small seaside town and love to watch the seagulls as I go about my day (which usually starts at 5am, when it is still dark). …

I work at what some might consider a somewhat menial or mundane job. That being said, I love my job. This is mainly because I can disengage my brain and mull over my next big project whilst I work.

I work early mornings, which I find particularly useful for getting the mental juices flowing. There is nothing like physical activity to get your brain into gear.

Walking to work

If I don’t already have an idea, often, just the act of walking to work in the early dawn (or pitch black!) can spark ideas. …

It all began with an art challenge in May. Mermay was a great chance to improve my drawing consistency, by drawing every day, and my watercolour skills. Having originally discovered this challenge on YouTube, from a video by illustrator Dina Norlund, and, as I also enjoy watching content of a similar nature, I decided to film my own art process.

This was something I had at the back of my mind to do, for many years, but had always been unsure how to go about it. At the start of the year I found a tripod which was affordable and…

Apart from the initial outlay of a good quality bullet journal, which can be more pricey than your average notebook, bullet journaling is a fantastic way to keep track of, and take control of your finances.

Planning

Any form of planning is useful, in order to keep a budget and manage your money on a daily basis, but bullet journaling is (in my opinion) a superior form of planning. Because, with bullet journaling, financial planning is only one part of the bigger picture: a life plan.

This is how I see my journal. It is where I plan out all my…

It is mid-March. Friday the 13th, to be exact.

I am planning to attend the regular charity poetry reading, held by my local writing group in the evening. The event is called ‘Synchronicity.’

I get myself all dolled up. I don’t go out much, and when I do it’s a treat. This time I am not reading my own poetry, and it will be fun to be in the audience and not get stage fright.

There is a blustery wind blowing, as I walk down the road to the Little Theatre. But when I reach the door, there is only…

I have only been bullet journaling for about a year, but I am already a great fan of the system and feel that many of my recent artistic and writing ‘successes’ have come from using this method of planning. Although I might not have achieved anything spectacular, I do feel that I have managed to reach some important milestones and am on the road to reaching more. And all with the help of my bullet journal.

So here is an outline of some of the ways in which you can use the Bullet journaling method (as developed by Ryder Carroll)…

Comparing how to draw in ink books and my take on the #Inktober controversy

Sketching Without a Master by J. Hullah Brown, was first published in 1919. If I owned a first edition of this book that would make it 101 years old. Unfortunately, I do not.

A revised and enlarged edition of this pen and ink technique drawing book was later published in 1939 and reprinted several times in the 40’s. The edition I own was published in 1949, which still makes this the oldest book I own, at 70 years old. …